A DOCTOR who represents Lancashire on the British Medical Association has warned that a £3.8 billion cash injection for the NHS announced by George Osborne may not be enough.

The Treasury has agreed the new settlement as part of a manifesto promise to give the NHS an extra £8 billion a year by 2020.

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It will bring spending to £106.5 billion in 2016-17, which is the equivalent of a 3.7 per cent or £3.8 billion rise.

Some critics have suggested that public-health budgets still face cuts. These are held by councils for services including sexual health, stop-smoking clinics and student-nurse bursaries.

Lancashire’s BMA representative Dr David Wrigley described the cash injection as a drop in the ocean.

He said: “Frontline NHS staff struggle day to day with the cuts imposed on them. Public health has already seen its budget cut by the government.

“Cutting these services is short-sighted and misguided. They are shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic.”

Mr Osborne is due to unveil full details of his Comprehensive Spending Review alongside his Autumn Statement today. He said the extra money, which includes cash already given to the service, would mean world-class treatment for patients.

The government has pledged that by 2020 everyone in England will be able to access GP services in the evenings and at weekends.

By the same time, all key hospital services are due to operate seven days a week.

Dr Chris Clayton, clinical chief officer at NHS Blackburn with Darwen Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “While we welcome the funding announcement, it is too early to assess what the local impact will be.

“There is an increasing demand for health services and there are significant pressures within the health and care system at the moment, and as such increased resources are welcomed.”

Figures released on Friday showed that NHS trusts in England have racked up a deficit of £1.6 billion in the first six months of the financial year — the worst on record.

Based on current performance, trusts are predicting they will end the financial year some £2.2 billion in debt, with 156 out of 239 of them recording deficits, the regulator Monitor said.